You and me, Odango
by planeteer
Summary: On the verge of the fight against Galaxia, Usagi has to fight her inner battle. After the galactic war is beaten, the warriors have to rearrange their lives. Where do they go from there? Story starts at the end of the anime's last season.
1. prologue

**You and me, Odango**

**Hello all, I decided to put my first Sailor Moon fanfiction on here. I hope you'll like it, I'm open to criticism - English is not my first language, so be patient if some parts sound...well...weird. I try my best 3**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own any of the Sailor Moon characters. Naoko Takeuchi does!**

She turned her hands into small fists, trying to keep her trembling body under control.

_"__Odango…"_ he started, but she didn´t have the heart to lift her head and stared to the ground instead. The raindrops started to create patterns on the grey stones. Usagi concentrated on those drops connecting to small puddles and darkening the ground slowly.

_"__Odango…"_ The sound of his voice brought her back to reality. Everything she could perceive was his voice and the heavy rattling of the rain. Her head was so heavy… _"Seiya…"_ she sighed without moving. As much as she tried to concentrate and control her body, it kept on shaking. What was he doing here, here with her? Why did he even care? Everyone thought of her as the powerful warrior of the moon. The warrior who is able to keep evil from earth… she hated that role passionately.

_"__I… I am not good in maintaining things…"_ She spoke with a quiet, trembling voice, without taking her view from the rainy streams. How meaningless to try to wash away everything that had happened…

Seiya didn´t react, but she could sense his gaze. Her view moved to his toe-caps. She could not bear trying to fit into that role she wasn´t made to fit in. He was here, with her, in this intimate moment. Listening, like so many times, since…

Usagi pressed her fingernails into her palms, until the pain told her this situation was still real, choked down her sobbing and snuffled her nose. All of a sudden, Rei's teasing came to her mind. _"Usagi-chan, how are YOU supposed to be queen of Crystal Tokyo?"_ In defiance of that memory, she snuffled again. What difference was it supposed to make…

She noticed Seiya walking slowly towards her and decreasing the distance between them. Why should he still be here with her? With a pathetic little girl like her, who could not gain anything in life without the help of others? Now that he finally found **his** princess? As he reached out his hand to touch her, Usagi made a small step back and tried to focus on the ground. She knew the moment she lifted her head, everything on her mind would be buried deep again.

_"__Even… Even if I try really hard to do my homework…"_ She gazed at her fists, trying to control her body and mind. _"My thoughts drift away, no matter how hard I try to concentrate, and I start eating candy until I am completely full and then I fall asleep…"_ Usagi started to talk faster and faster, stringing together pieces of thought as they came to her mind. If she couldn´t express herself now, then when? She was unable to understand why Seiya Kou would try to spend all of his free time being close to her. Was he also seeing something in her she wasn´t and never could be? She had to show at least him how wrong he was about her. She was nothing of the person everyone tried seeing in her._ "I… I fall asleep all the time, not matter how much I try not to…I…still thought once I had a strong will…"_ Her body started trembling again, and her eyes became wet. _*I can't… I can't even talk about this without crying… you are so weak, Usagi Tsukino. So weak.*_

She remembered the moment she saw the red rose and expected Tuxedo Mask to be back all of a sudden. Starting to lose control about her body, she put her hands in front of her face to hide her weakness. _"But when I… when I saw the rose… I thought… I thought it's him…"_ Usagi fell to her knees and supported herself with both palms on the floor. Small dirty creeks were streaming along her fingers._ "I thought I had failed again at standing on my own feet…since all this…fighting started had he always been here… I can't do it on my own…Mamoru…"_ she started crying heavily.

_„__Odango…"_ There it was again. Seiya's soft and sympathetic voice… but didn´t she hear a touch of disappointment? Still not looking up, Usagi noticed him kneeling down into the dirt in front of her. _"Mamo-chan…"_ Her shoulders were shaking under her sobbing. _"I thought he was here… I thought he didn´t abandon me and was at my side instead…I…I don´t know how to do it on my own, I don´t know how to get through without him…"_ She had folded her arms in front of her body by now, trying to hold herself. Yeah, this was the point. In that moment, Usagi realized how soaking wet her school uniform had become from the rain and what a pathetic expression she was making. _*That's your problem, Usagi Tsukino!*_ she heard a voice inside her head. _*You need your boyfriend desperately to tell you what to do, how to behave. To tell you what´s right and what´s wrong. So you would have a reason to avoid being close to HIM… and you thought the time was here. It is not only desperation that Mamo-chan is not near. __It is also relief…*_

Usagi shook her head, sobbing, trying to banish those thoughts. _*No…no…*_

All of a sudden, she felt two hands on her shoulders, raising her upper body. A warm finger caressed her cheek gently, trying to weep away her tear. _"Odango… am I not good enough?"_

Shocked at the sound of his voice, she raised her head and stared into his blue eyes. What did he say? Seiya looked at her seriously and made it impossible for her to look away. Usagi felt her face blushing. She did not make him leave, even by being pathetic and crying out for another man? He tried weeping away her tears again and leaned forward, whispering into her ear. _"Am I really not good enough?"_

She stared back to the ground, shocked and hiding her red face. _*Usagi, no… you have Mamo-chan…*_

Some silent moments passed, until Seiya stood up, raising her up. "Usagi…" Him calling her by her real name caught her attention. How strange the sound of his voice was, saying her name.

_"__Come on, I´ll take you home."_ She nodded slowly, being silent.


	2. silence is not the way

[Seiya's POV]

The rain got heavier, so I wiped the wet hair out of my face. I had already noticed Usagi's friends finding us on the rooftop and observing us silently. I could see in their shocked expression that Odango's outburst surprised them as much as it had me… It was only Minako who looked at us with sad blue eyes, as if she didn´t expect anything else.

Odango also noticed the girls and stared to the ground, ashamed. "Do you… want to stay?" I whispered into her ear, and she responded by almost imperceptibly shaking her head. The situation was awkward for her, so I put my hand on her wet back and pushed her slowly to the exit. "Usagi"… She winced under my hand, hearing Rei's voice, and started walking again without a single look at her friends. No one held us back, as we were disappearing into the school building.

None of us said a single word on our way to the parking area. Silently, Odango sat down on the passenger seat and continued staring. I sighed and turned the ignition key – how could I assume to declare my feelings in a moment like that? Sometimes, I felt like Taiki knows be better than I do. Maybe the reason is that even in such difficult and challenging times, he's never losing his ability to analyze complex situations and dealing with them accordingly. He had been the one who warned me for weeks about getting into a situation like this. He had also been the one who reminded me about myself always acting first and then thinking about the consequences. But isn't time running out and shouldn't some things be cleared up, before –

"You are always shining, your smile is just like a tiny star…" I turned off the radio playing our song quickly, but not without noticing Usagi looking out of her window hastily. Gosh. Fortunetaly, I never believed in destiny, otherwise I had to believe something was playing a cruel joke on my life. How ironic… We had found our princess after months of searching and our mission here was starting to end. Search for your love? Why did they still play that song? I still couldn't look away from Odango. Her hands were still turned into fists, and a billion thoughts seemed to rollercoast through her mind. Oh, Odango… why can't I stop thinking there's still something missing? That the big picture's not complete yet?

After arriving at her parent's place and walking her to the door, Odango finally turned her head and looked at me. As if she just had to make sure I was still there, she lowered her gaze again and opened the door. "Seiya" she whispered without looking at me, and as always, hearing her voice calling my name captivated me. "My parents are still gone and…maybe…could you come inside for a while?" She was looking at me again, shyly. She could have asked me for anything that moment. Closing the door behind us, Odango clinged to me and started sobbing once again. Sighing, I closed my eyes and rested my head on her hair. Odango… we both know this is not the place I belong, neither in this moment nor in any other. How had I fallen in love with her head over heels? Why now? Why during this time, when the following threat should not allow us any thoughts beside our fights?

Odango… her sneezing ripped me out of the thoughts, and so the short bond of the moment faded away as I turned on the light switch next to me and artificial light lightened reality. "Odango… you are soaking wet. Let me make some tea, okay?" I heard myself say. Silently, she nodded, but didn´t dare to move, until I pushed her away softly. Oh, I knew too well, where my place was supposed to be in times like these… but in absolutely no case would I leave this person alone right now. Forgive me, Kakyuu… I am aware of where my loyalty belongs to, but… not yet. Not now. Leave this moment to me.

While Odango started to climb the stairs up to her room, I left for the Tsukino kitchen. When I finally found a water boiler after checking all kind of closets and was waiting for hot water, I realized how stressed I had been all the time. With a quiet moan, I buried my face in my hands. What was I expecting from this? Glancing at the Tsukino family portrait wall, I leaned onto the kitchen table. This was not the first time I had been to Usagi's home, but I had never really seen all the photographies, and so I gave attention to them now.

My little Odango on her first day of school, hiding shyly behind her father's leg… There was another one, showing her holding her newborn brother, smiling. I couldn't help but start smiling, too. There was one photography which caught my attention especially: Odango and a small pink-haired girl hugging and laughing into the camera. I already knew Shingo and Chibi-Chibi, obviously, but I never met that girl before…

Slowly, I traced the frames with my index finger and tried to absorb every snapshop of this simple, happy family , Yaten and me had spent so much time on this planet, in this life, that our old life on Kinmoku startet to fade more and more. My life before… What would have happened to us if we had never found princess Kakyuu? If Galaxia had never shown up on this planet as well? Would there have been a chance…?

The water boiler's whistling sound gave me a push back into reality, and I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my mind. Keep yourself together, Seiya… The life that Seiya, Yaten and Taiki live in this world is ending soon. Sometimes, I wished I had more of Taiki's discipline or Yaten's focus on our destination. But… please let me get away with this moment.

Balancing a tray with Odango's favorite tea, I opened the door of her room using my hip and – so her looking at me with her giant tearstained eyes. I felt like my heart stopped beating for a little moment, and before I lost the tray out of my hands, I put it down on the small table in front of her bed. My strong, weak Odango… I would do everything for you right now. I hear myself sighing. Is this all I am able to think right now? Since when do I feel like someone from those cheesy poems Taiki loves to read?

She was grabbing the cup I gave here carefully, and so I sat down across from her – aware that the table between us is keeping a distance. How much I wanted to get up and… Yes, I guess Taiki was true. I lost myself in the friendship to Usagi Tsukino and lost my focus on our mission. Even though I knew rationally that I was supposed to be somewhere else, I didn't feel committed to anything else than my Odango right then. Odango, what did you do to me? She was still staring into her cup of tea, silently, and so I decided to finally break the silence.

"Odango-" She looked at me again and almost made me lose concentration. "Why… are you thinking like that? You are this sun system's leader for a reason, the senshis trust you-" She turned her head with a disdainfully huff. "You see…" she finally said with a steady voice, after some seconds had passed in silence. "That's what all of them are thinking… that I am the strongest one." She stopped for a moment and continued quietly. "I am so sick of it, Seiya… all this fighting. I had never been asked, she… Sailor Moon became my alter ego when I just turned fourteen. Fourteen! … I had been this foolish, loud, clumsy little girl, which would meet her friends after school to watch as many tv shows as possible oder to play videogames far into the night. And all of the sudden… I was not allowed to be that anymore, I had a mission and everything I had been was a bad thing then." She had made no breaks between those sentences and breathed in deeply, before she put down the cup she was holding all the time.

Now it was me who was staring to ground, not knowing what to say. I had never lived like others on Kinmoku… and being the princess' bodyguard had been an honor. I had never thought about that as a burden before… until I met Odango. Since she had become a part of my earth life, I felt more and more attracted to this completely normal life… without duties. Without fighting.

I decided to overcome the distance between us, got up and sat down next to Odango, knowing that being near her could make me lose my concentration completely with a single move. "Hey, Odango…" I tried to soothe her. "Being a warrior doesn't mean that you have to live two lifes…" She looked up to me with a puzzled face. "It does not have to be Sailor Moon on one side and Usagi Tsukino on the other… the warrior is a part of you, even if you didn't chose it… just like I didn't choose it, either. She is you and part of what's making you the girl… the woman you are." I managed to smile at her. "The most loveable person I met on this planet. And hey, Odango – " I added, when I saw her trying not to smile and realized I was on the right way. "I, Seiya Kou, have met a billion people!" I made it, Odango started laughing quietly. „You are a charmer, Seiya." She was teasing me and poked me playfully, before she leaned her head on my shoulder. Odango, what are you doing to me…

"Thank you. I have no idea why, but you're even better than Minako at chearing someone up. For her, I am just her friend Usagi, failing every test with her, because there are so many things we want to do instead of studying… but in the end, she has to be loyal to me, for…" She moved her head and I followed her gaze to a picture of her, Mamoru Chiba, and this pink-haired girl I had already seen in the kitchen. Why did Odango become stiff again all of a sudden? "Seiya, there is so much you still don't know about me… from my past… and my future."

Odango… are you that unconfident? Don't you know how important you are, how much you mean to everyone around you? I decided to stake everything on one chance and turned her head back to me, resting my hand on her hot cheek tenderly. "That is not important to me… do you know who I am seeing in front of me? I see Usaki Tsukino, the girl who's asleep every math class, who always chooses reading comics and watching tv instead of doing homework and loves sleeping in her free time." I could observe how an angry line appeared between her eyebrows, making her totally predictable. "Do you think I don't know who you are? I know the best and the worst of you, Odango… I also see the student who's passing every test when she actually studied, the friend I am winning softball competitions with against the sport's elite of our school… I see the person whom I grew attached to like no one else, and…" I stopped. Had I gone too far? „Odango… you know you can achieve anything, if you want." Sho stared at me, speechless, and I couldn´t help myself but to caress her cheek. Her almost naïve openness fascinated me like nothing else, and never before had she looked so beautiful, so perfect to me…

Her glance set my imagination running wild, and I had to keep together the rest of my self-control. "But!" I had an idea and slowly approached her face, while Odango listened to me magnetized and kept a straight face. "I know you weakness…" I whispered into her ear. I tried to hold back a smirk, as she turned pink in a second. She was so bad at hiding her feelings… "Y-yes?" she was whispering. I realized by looking at her face, that she was completely clueless, and put my hands near her waistline. "I know where to find your Achilles

Heel, Sailor Moon…" All of a sudden, I attacked her waist with my hands and started to tickle her. Screeching, she started to struggle, and I had to be aware of her bare feet hitting my face. "Mercy, Mercy, please…" she was begging and laughing the same time, while she was trying to escape my grip. If someone saw us right then, he would have thought we went completely crazy.

After our fight, we lay next to each other on her bed, still laughing and breathing heavily. "Just in case you forgot, Odango – you're not standing a chance against me!" She threw her pillow at me. When I faced her, I saw that she was staring at me again silently and felt her hand holding mine. I had never before felt so close to this person. My heart, just having been recovered from the tickle, started beating faster again. "Seiya…" She was whispering. „Thank you…" We lay there for a while, just looking at each other, until she put her head closer trusting and closed her eyes. Shortly after that, I could guess from her steady and calm breathing that she had fallen asleep, and I couldn't help but smile at her. Odango… I kissed her on her forehead and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

I didn't know if it had been minutes or hours I spent next to her, enjoying just being near her. It was completely irrelevant.

My cell phone vibrated in my jacket, and I sighed. It had only been a matter of time. I tried to get up carefully, so I wouldn't cause Odango waking up, and sat down at the edge of her bed. Next to three unread messages from Taiki, I got one from Yaten, which could only be a bad sign. Resting my head in one hand, I pushed "show message".

"SEIYA! Who do you think you are? Don't think we don't have a clue that you're hanging out with HER! Start moving, what are you thinking?"

Odango moved to her other side, sleeping peacefully.


	3. should i just keep chasing pavements?

**I am done with translating the third chapter ^_^ SailorMoonAddict, thank you for being the first to review! I really appreciate it and it makes me uber happy when someone likes my writing! **

**Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me. I wish it would, for Seiya's happiness ^_^**

Usagi buried her head under her pillow and tried to crawl deeper into the sheets to ignore the alarm on her phone. She just wanted have some peace and quiet and keep on sleeping. Why would that stupid thing ring so early? She made it through the alarm and could turn around some more. Carefully, she opened her eyes just a little bit and closed them again immediately. Why was it so bright? Laying on her belly, she buried her head back under the pillow. No, too uncomfortable. Also the attempt to create a paradise of calmness under her blanket, far away from sunlight, failed.

The sleepy senshi blinked a couple of times and tossed and turned on her bed, until she wasn´t able to ignore the sunlight any more. She turned back her sheets, sat down cross-legged and took a look at her night table. 10 am? Dear sailors, it was Saturday… Sighing, she fell back onto the mattress, where her right hand suddenly felt something crinkly. She went back into the sitting mode, frowning, and smoothed the piece of paper she apparently had slept on. As soon as she read _"Odango"_ on it, her face turned hot and cold and she remembered the night before. _"Seiya…"_ As she was slowly putting her hand onto the side of her bed where Seiya had lain before, her head started to beat faster. _„Am I not good enough?"_ She could feel her face blushing. _"… the most loveable person I met on this planet."_ Usagi let herself fall back and stared on the scribbled „Odango". Slowly, she began to unfold the piece of paper…

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang downstairs, and Usagi could hear Luna meowing. Knee-jerk, she hid the unread letter under her pillow and shook her head. The Starlights had found their princess, the Sailor senshi were about to face their biggest threat in the galactic war, Galaxia… How could being near him make her lose her concentration so easily?

Usagi got up and smoothed out her school uniform she had slept in. After she had walked downstairs and opened the door, all she could see was a bunch of grapes of filled grocery bags, which were being swung back and forth in front of her. _"Tadaaa… breakfast!_" She had to smile. _„Minako!"_ With a fake snort, Minako put her grocery bags on the ground and looked at her friend with a serious face. _"Usagi-chan, I…wanted to see you."_ She finally said quietly and forced a smile onto her face when she got no reaction. _"Where is Seiya?"_ She was asking with a merrier voice, and Usagi's heart started beating faster again. Gosh, maybe she would get a heart attack from this Seiya topic one day… Minako pretended to look around curiously. _"I just thought, he…you… hehe."_ Usagi's face was burning red and she stared to the ground desperately, when her friend poked her shoulder playfully. _"Hey… that was a bad joke to cheer you up, I am sorry."_ Usagi stayed silent and started to draw small circles on the ground with the tiptoe of her foot. What was she supposed to say, when she had no idea where her head was at?

Minako still didn´t give up her cheering up mission and dragged her grocery bags to the Tsukino kitchen. _"Well, now get out of those crinkled clothes and get ready for the venus coffein breakfast shock!"_ she started yelling while starting to create clattering sounds from the kitchen. Usagi's stomach made a loud noice, which didn´t stay unnoticed by the goddess of love. _"I heard that! Now move!"_ Usagi laughed quietly and hurried upstairs to get some fresh clothes.

Fifteen minutes later, both were sitting at the Tsukino's kitchen table, surrounded by a chaos out of spilled coffee, a crooked pile of pancakes and slightly burned bread rolls plus the radio playing quietly in the background. Minako chatted about her parent's newest fighting annoying her as well as the hot new sales clerk at the supermarket, as Usagi took a bite off her bread and started to relax and enjoy this conversation wholeheartedly. _*I wish it could just always be like this… This normal life…_* She kept on chewing and glanced at the people walking by outside the window, enjoying their weekend. Or maybe not… A couple was walking down the street having a discussion, while the woman was rummaging around in her purse. Usagi started so smile. _*I want it so much…*_

_"Usagi-chan?"_ The adressed blinked and looked back to her friend._ "I… I am sorry, Minako. What did you say?" „About…yesterday…"_ Her gut twisted. She knew she couldn't avoid that topic… What was she supposed to say about it? That with Seiya next to her, she had felt happy again after a really long time? That her heart started beating faster whenever she started to think about him, while everyone was expecting her to feel like that for Mamoru only? She got scared at herself having those thoughts. How could she even think something egoistic and heartless like that?

Minako bit her lips. _„It's just that I… we didn't know you were that desperate about Mamoru gone, Usagi. You could have talked to us anytime…"_ Usagi noticed her eyes becoming teary, stood up and went to the kitchen window, so she wouldn't have to face Minako. She knew she just had to look into her friends face to break into tears. _"I…would like to know how he's doing right now, how he's spending his time…"_ She answered quietly after a while. _"He told me he would be very busy, especially at the beginning, but… I need him, especially now. Everything is so…messed up…"_ When she didn't hear Minako responding directly, she knew her friends for looking for the right words desperately. _"Usagi, you… you're in contact with Mamoru, right?"_ The Odango girl shook her head slowly. _"Since when?" „Since the beginning…"_

The blonde with the red ribbon slowly approached her friend and finally stood next to her, trying to get her attention. _"Why didn't you say anything?"_ was she whispering. Usagi denied the eye-contact and continued staring outside the window. _"Minako… are you sometimes thinking about our lives without…all this?"_ She didn't get an answer, and when she finally turned around to her friend, she saw her leaning against the wall, thoughtfully. _"Yes, every single day…"_ Minako finally answered. _„But in the end, I am thankful for everything. I mean, I would never have met you and the others. Besides…"_ She was looking at Usagi and smiling. _"It doesn't mean we could not live a happy live and make our own decisions, right?"_ Usagi folded her arms and fought her sudden tears. How could she explain her fellow senshi why she had to fight her own battle right now?

Again, the two girls were standing next to each other in silence, until Minako found her courage. _"Are you feeling that much for him?"_ she was asking quietly. Usagi turned around and stared at her._ "What do you mean? I…" „Seiya. Are you having such strong feelings for him?"_ The adressed bowed her head. _„Would it make any difference?"_ she said without expecting an answer. Without any words, Minako wrapped her arms around her friend.

_"Usagi-chan, Minako!"_ Luna yelled at them and called their attention to the radio. _"-last concert! As we just came to know, this year's most successful band, the Three Lights, is splitting after their concert tonight. Yaten, what's the reason for this sudden break-up? Are you going for solo carreers?"_ Shocked, Usagi and Minako stared at the small radio, from which Yaten's grumpy voice was being heard. _"No, this chapter of our life is history. There is nothing more to say."_

With a heavy heart, Usagi let herself fall back onto her bed. After cleaning the kitchen with Minako halfheartedly, she had excused herself with a headache. She had blocked out the situation they in, they were about to face Galaxia… and the radio news had thrown her back into reality. It was probably useless to care about her private issues at least under such conditions… All of a sudden, she remembered something, and pulled the piece of paper from underneath her pillow. _"Odango…"_


	4. leave the bourbon on the shelf

**Yay, so here's chapter four with some treats for all the Minako&Yaten lovers in you. If you read the story, please let me know what you think - I would really, really appreciate it :**

**I still don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters. Unfortunately.**

Her heart beating faster, Usagi unfolded the piece of paper, straightened it und let her hand touch the written words. She sat down and pulled up her knees, before she started to read.

_Odango…_

_Please forgive me that I am leaving. I saw you sleeping and didn't have the heart to wake you up…but I have to go._

_We both know that_ – the following two lines were crossed out, and even though Usagi tried and held the letter close under her night table lamp, she wasn't able to decipher the sentence.

_You should know that I meant every word I told you. I wish I could just close my eyes, be with you and forget about having to be somewhere else. Please forgive me if I was too overwhelming trying to find a place in your life. I never wanted the things between us becoming so complicated._

The letters became blurred, until Usagi noticed her hands were shaking. Why was she so agitated emotionally?

_… I got to know and appreciated you on this planet and enjoyed every minute we got to spend together. You gave me secureness and affection when I needed it the most – being thrown into this world with the only mission to find our princess. We lived and worked for no other goal, and so I am supposed to be as happy as Taiki and Yaten, because we found what we were looking for. There is just a single mistake I made – I fell in love._

_Seiya_

_P.S. stop snoring ;)_

Usagi thought briefly about being mad, but had to laugh instead. _"Seiya…"_ She was whispering and wiped the tears from her eyes. She let her hand holding the letter sink to her lap and gazed outside the window. The sky was unusually dark this afternoon, and a couple of raindrops started to patter onto the glass rhythmically. Usagi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _"There is just a single mistake I made – I fell in love."_ She was repeating his words quietly. _„Oh, Seiya…"_ Her head got dizzy, and so she leaned back on the wall. Hearing the quiet ticking of the wall clock, she was sitting there for minuted, her eyes closed.

Minako rudely awoke from her thoughts, as the bartender was putting the ordered café au lait right under her nose. She had been strolling through the park after leaving Usagi's place and when the rain became harder, decided not to go home directly and entered the first coffee shop she could find instead. She felt like having to structure her thoughts and she could neither do it having a curious Artemis around, nor at Motoki's Crown cafè, where she could have met one of the other girls. What were she supposed to tell them about her talk with Usagi anyway? Should she tell them about her worries concerning Usagi's emotional life, when they had to face a much bigger threat with Galaxia too soon? Sighing, she took small circles in her coffee with the spoon, holding her head in her left hand.

Ami, Rei, Makoto… they were all caught up dealing with the threat ahead of them and missed seeing Usagi's personal struggle. Minako reviewed their conversation.

_"Are you feeling that much for him?" Usagi had looked at her frightened and then avoided her gaze again. "Would it make any difference?"_

She sighed again. _„What a great goddess of love I am… pff."_ Frustrated, she let the spoon fall on the table and noticed an older couple staring at her indignantly. Defiantly looking at them, Minako pushed back her chair as noisy as possible and stood up. A vague idea had come to her mind and she didn't want to lose any time. If she wasn't able to help Usagi directly and didn't want to worry her friends with concerns about the moon princess, the least she could do was something more meaningful than hanging out in a coffee shop agonizing. With a couple of quick sips, she finished her coffee and put some coins onto the table.

Shivering, Minako pulled her winter coat closer together, as she was stepping out of the coffee shop into the rain. With her head low, she took big steps to get to the next train station and waited at the track where the train should bring her to the university. After stepping on the train and standing in the middle of all those anonymous people, each and every one going his or her own way, she had to think of the ticking bomb threatening them. How much time did they have left until Galaxia and the following catastrophe would break loose? Finally, the train reached its final destination, and Minako tried to concentrate. _"We're doing the best we can…"_ she said to soothe herself. _"There is nothing more we can right now instead of waiting…maybe I can find some answers here that would help Usagi."_ Lost in her thoughts, the blonde walked to the campus and stopped. She knew how to get to the university, but how was she supposed to find the library? Minako briefly thought about calling Ami, but decided not to. This was her own mission.

Frustrated, Minako sighed deeply. She had strayed around campus for half an hour now and had neither found the library not met any other people. Ranting and raving about the weather, she tried to protect herself from the rain by pulling up her coat and started walking again. Ami had told Usagi and her many times to benefit from the university's library. Why didn't she pay attention? She hurried around a corner and stopped all of a sudden. Someone was sitting alone on a bench under a porch roof. She was saved! She rushed to get closer, only to stop again. _„Yaten?"_

The adressed lifted his head and looked at her briefly, before he went back to his stiffed position, his arms crossed._ "What do you want here?"_ As he saw the hurt reaction in Minako's eyes, he sighed and moved to the side, giving her a place to sit. Minako's gladness over the protection from the rain didn't last long. She was too confused meeting Yaten. Nervously, she shifted around on the bench, while the silver haired boy stared at the ground before him and obviously felt uncomfortable having company. Finally, she found some courage. _"What…what are you doing here, on your own?"_ When he refused to answer, she decided tob e silent again. Both spend some time watching the rain silently. _"I wanted to be alone and… I am scared."_ He finally said quietly. Afterwards, he bristled with anger and gazed into the sky. _"We are playing our last concert tonight and we only have this last chance. If we're failing, then…"_ He didn't finish the sentence and slowly turned his face to Minako instead. Her heart started beating faster, and she had no idea how to react to this intimate conversation. The ice between them had already been broken after her casting, but they had never talked about something as existential as their fear of failure. To be honest, she had never talked to anyone about her fears.

_„You know,"_ Yaten continued instead, quietly. _"Our only goal here was finding Kakyuu. And now that we finally are with her again… can we really risk losing her again already?"_ He leaned back his head and stared into the dark, cloudy sky. Minako played with her fingers in her lap, trying to concentrate. How was she supposed to deal with this unexpected situation? She knew she wasn't as good with words as Usagi and also didn't have her friend's talent to encourage other people, even when she was worried on her own. _"Yaten, I – " "I am sorry, I am an idiot."_ He broke into her words. Surprised, she looked at him._ „What am I doing here? Sitting here and complaining pathetically on a Sunday afternoon with you."_ His outburst tore into her heart like a dagger. Was she such bad company? Yaten looked at her from the side. _„Minako… I didn't mean it like that. I am sorry. I can't…there is no way I could talk to Seiya or Taiki about this, not to mention Kakyuu. And now I am complaining to you, even though your're in no better position. You're having your own war and defending your own world, so…"_ he sighed again and shoved his hands down his pockets. _"Well, what am I talking about."_ Minako looked at him for a while, trying to find the right words.

_"Yaten, I… I am scared, too. I don't know what's ahead of us and if we're able to defend this planet. We are not that powerful, and – "_ Yaten turned around and looked at her directly. _"Stop thinking like that, Minako. All of you are very powerful, and you, you are…"_ He lost track of his words and stared at her, blushing. _"I…I have to go, Minako. See you."_ He looked at her for a while before he turned around and started walking away into the rain. Minako let herself fall back onto the bench speechless and put her hands up her cheeks to feel her heated face. What a day…

She stayed at her place for a while, not moving, before she decided to get up again and straightened her coat. She was running out of time. The library couldn't be far and she thanked god for remembering some basic information about time travelling and timelines from school. Where could she find answers if not in either the philosophy or the physics library?


	5. slipping away like the sand to the tide

Seiya was sitting on one of the bar stools in the Three Light's apartment, constantly drumming his fingers on the desk, feeling fierce. Desperate, he let a deep sigh and kept his face in his palms. Above him, he heard the quiet, permanent buzzing of the fan, while feeling Kakyuu's glares from behind.

Taiki was leaning against the door, holding his arms crossed. "I can't believe Yaten's leaving us alone here!" he was mumbling, taking a closer look at Seiya. Out of everyone, he thought it'd be Seiya being illoyal when it came to the final fight, being… somewhere else. "Let him." Kakyuu was speaking quietly. „All of us have been through turbulent times, and there are probably even more… difficult times ahead… I have never been doubtful about your loyalty and I feel he will be back in time. Needing a moment for himself in a situation like this only makes him… how do you say here?" After pausing for some moments, she forced herself to smile. "…human."

„Hmm…" Taiki lifted his head and stared at the ceiling, absentmindetly. "Maybe you're right, princess." True, after discussing their dead-end situation for the whole morning, Yaten had left the apartment with a pretty weak excuse and had not come back yet. But even more, and on a very different level, Seiya was not really present either. Maybe that should worry all of them…

"Seiya." Hearing the princess' voice, the one addressed lifted his head a little, but didn't mind turning around. "You know she is the Moon Princess, right?" The following silence, only broke by Taiki's gasp and the constant buzzing of the fan, seemed to last an eternity. "Yes… I know." Seiya finally answered unwillingly. Although they had never talked about it, it had been kind of obvious all the time, preying on his mind. "Then you know she is promised to the prince of the Earth-" "I know it, Kakyuu!" Underlining his interruption, Seiya hit the table with one of his fists, before turning around and catching her glare. "I know about this legend, just as everyone else on Kinmoku!"

Shocked and wide-eyed by Seiya's sudden and uncommon use of their princess' name and lack of respect, the rest of Taiki's face stayed totally calm. Seiya instead felt his body relaxing again, after letting his anger out. "I… I am sorry, princess. Please forgive me." Quickly, he walked towards her and knelt down, but Kakyuu just smiled sadly und touched his cheek.

Unnoticed, Yaten had entered the room and was closing the door behind him slowly. "She…she is…what?" He asked, disbelieving. Had he just misheard what Seiya and Kakyuu were talking about? Could they be talking about Usagi, naïve, clumsy Sailor Moon? "Princess, this legend is more than a thousand years old…" Without reacting to Yaten's question, Seiya stood up and paced to the window, arms crossed. Kakyuu followed him with sadness in her eyes before paying attention to the fellow Starlights. She took a deep breath and started talking quietly. "You're right, Healer. You know about the galactic legend of the Moon Kingdom, the royal moon family and the Silver Crystal. This kingdom fell during the war against the Earth Kingdom and was completely extinguished. There is another, less known legend, though…" The redhaired princess looked at Seiya with a quick glance and noticed that he hadn't moved at all. Yaten and Taiki though were still listening magnetized.

The Starlight's leader stared into the rain outside. He had sensed this… and though hoped his feeling would betray him – until the very moment Kakyuu had confirmed his fear. "It is told that Queen Serenity was heartbroken when her beloved daughter died along with her paramour, Prince Endymion…" Endymion… Seiya closed his eyes in rejection. "The mighty Queen knew about the Silver Crystal's powers and dangers, and still she gave her life to let her daughter live again in another lifetime. Together with the people she loved – Endymion just as her fellow friends and bodyguards. Into this lifetime – as Sailor Moon."

'I was only fourteen when I… when she became part of me…' The legend being told made Seiya remember his talk to Usagi the day before, and he clenched his fists. "And that's it?" He was whispering just as loud enough to be heard. "That's it?" He raised his voice and finally turned around. „An ancient legend is supposed to have such strong influences on this lifetime? No matter how people having to deal with it feel about that? An ancient legend is supposed to have an influence that strong that it's not relevant at all what people hope for? What they would have hoped for without knowing about this legend?" His hands were shaking by rage. With an uncomfortable look on their faces, Yaten and Taiki glanced at the floor, while only Kakyuu held her view up and looked at Seiya, slightly hurt. "Oh, Seiya…" She arose and started walking, getting closer. "No, that's not all." The redhaired princess looked him in the eye. "This solar system's warriors are not only fighting because of their past, not only for bringing this current war to an end, but also for their prophecy. The prophecy about the forthcoming downfall of this world and the following Neo-Moon Kingdoom. A Moon Kingdom which will be ruled on Earth… by Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion."

…

It felt as if something, if an invisible hand was ripping out his heart. He was overcome by sickness. Kakyuu looked down, as if she regret her sudden honesty, and finally found the right words. "This is also the main reason why the outer warriors aren't sympathetic with you. They do not hate you-" With a scornful and disbelieving snort, Seiya thought of Haruka Tenoh. "They see their utopia endangered."

Seiya was just about to respond as someone knocked on the door cautiously from outside. 


End file.
